Concordia University Summer Research Institute (CUSRI) 2017

Objective:

An intense week-long interdisciplinary course/seminar for Masters and PhD students that will cover the fundamentals of the sustainable futures literature and assist each student in constructing their own sustainability paths for society from their own disciplinary focus. Each day will include a guest lecture from a roster of both Concordia and external professors, and the final day will be devoted to student presentations.

Topics covered include:

• What is sustainability and resilience, and how can these concepts be applied to long-term thinking about societal development?
• What is happening in the scientific community to reflect these imperatives?
• How can principles of engineering combine with ethics to produce a more sustainable future?
• What policy paths can be utilized to achieve student's visions of a sustainable future?

Students will produce a publishable paper and make a public presentation on their own chosen topic at the end of the course.

Outline, Timeline and Readings

Please note: readings may be added or changed based on discussions.

Part 1

1 day (9:00am-12:00-1:30-4:00pm)
This portion of the course will focus on Governing sustainability: triggering transformation on an urban planet.

Readings:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office:
Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Making local futures tangible—Synthesizing, downscaling, and visualizing climate change scenarios for participatory capacity building

Part 2

1 day (9:00am-12:00-1:30-4:00pm)
This portion of the course will focus on Culture as Leverage for Urban Resiliency

Readings:
FE Vision 2025
Knowledge Action Networks
Planetary Boundaries

Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2015), "Judging in a World of Expertise: When the Sum of the Parts is less than the Whole", in Architecture Competitions and the Production of Culture, Quality and Knowledge An International Inquiry, editors: J.-P. Chupin, C. Cucuzzella, B. Helal , Potential Architecture Books, Montreal, pp.144-161

Cucuzzella, Carmela, (2015), "Is Sustainability Reorienting the Visual Expression of Architecture?", Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review (RACAR): Design Studies in Canada (and beyond), (editors) Keith Bresnahan, Brian Donnelly, Martin Racine, vol 40 (2) pp. 86-100

Part 3

1 day (9:00am-12:00-1:30-4:00pm)
This portion of the course will focus on Modeling Sustainable Systems and Technological lock-in and Urban Sustainability in the Global South.

Readings: 

Mandatory readings:
Hall, Michael C. 2016. Challenges of Changing the Paradigms, Regimes, and Structures of Low Carbon Mobility. In D. Hopkins and J. Higham Low Carbon Mobility Transitions. Goodfellow Publishing: Oxford, UK, 91-103.
Joshi, R. et al. 2016. Structures of Mobility and Challenges of Low Carbon Transitions in India. In D. Hopkins and J. Higham Low Carbon Mobility Transitions. Goodfellow Publishing: Oxford, UK, 119-36.

Optional Readings:
Badami, M.G. 2009. Urban transport policy as if people and the environment mattered: pedestrian accessibility the first step. Economic and Political Weekly, 44(33), 43-51.
Imran, M. and N. Low. 2007. Institutional, technical and discursive path dependence in transport planning in Pakistan. International Development Planning Review, 29(3): 319-51.  TBC

Part 4

1 day (9:00am-12:00-1:30-4:00pm)
This portion of the course will focus on (Bio)plurality: Global extinction, Indigenous Knowledge and Decolonisation
Climate and Energy Futures

Readings:
Chapter from monograph (Bio)plurality by Audra Mitchell
MacKay, David JC. "Sustainable Energy–without the hot air." UIT Cambridge, England (2009). Chapter 1.

Part 5

1 day (9:00am-12:00-1:30-4:00pm)
Class presentations. Each student will present their paper.

Outcome: Students will produce a publishable paper and make a public presentation on their own chosen topic. The paper should be submitted by June 7^th.